purchases it,"
says she, "don't take any money from him, but ask him to give you
liquor enough to make you drunk." Ivan obeys, and this is the result.
He drank till he was intoxicated, and when he left the kabak (or
pot-house) he tumbled into a muddy pool. A crowd collected and folks
looked at him and said scoffingly, "Oh, the fair youth! now'd be the
time for him to go to church to get married!"

"Fair or foul!" says he, "if I bid her, Anastasia the Beautiful will
kiss the crown of my head."

"Don't go bragging like that!" says a rich merchant--"why she wouldn't
even so much as look at you," and offers to stake all that he is worth
on the truth of his assertion. Ivan accepts the wager. The Princess
appears, takes him by the hand, kisses him on the crown of his head,
wipes the dirt off him, and leads him home, still inebriated but no
longer impecunious.[40]

Sometimes even greater people than the peasants get drunk. The story
of "Semiletka"[41]--a variant of the well known tale of how a woman's
wit enables her to guess all riddles, to detect all deceits, and to
conquer all difficulties--relates how the heroine was chosen by a
Voyvode[42] as his wife, with the stipulation that if she meddled in
the affairs of his Voyvodeship she was to be sent back to her father,
but allowed to take with her whatever thing belonging to her she
prized most. The marriage takes place, but one day the well known case
comes before him for decision, of the foal of the borrowed mare--does
it belong to the owner of the mare, or to the borrower in whose
possession it was at the time of foaling? The Voyvode adjudges it to
the borrower, and this is how the story ends:--

"Semiletka heard of this and could not restrain herself, but said that
he had decided unfairly. The Voyvode waxed wroth, and demanded a
divorce. After dinner Semiletka was obliged to go back to her father's
house. But during the dinner she made the Voyvode drink till he was
intoxicated. He drank his fill and went to sleep. While he was
sleeping she had him placed in a carriage, and then she drove away
with him to her father's. When they had arrived there the Voyvode
awoke and said--

"'Who brought me here?'

"'I brought you,' said Semiletka; 'there was an agreement between us
that I might take away with me whatever I prized most. And so I have
taken you!'

"The Voyvode marvelled at her wisdom, and made peace with her. He and
she then returned home and went on living prosp